TROS

[nrgburst]

I finally re-watched, but this time with my family and I think my kids' baffled reactions said it all:

"But how did Palpatine come back?" "I don't know. They don't actually explain how it happened. He's just the bad guy again."
"How can they yell in space?" "Errr yeaaah, I don't know. I think because it looks dramatic?"
"But how did they make all the ships if it's so hard to get there?" "Oh, yeah, no kidding! I don't know. They don't explain it."
"How come they brought horses? Wouldn't they poop on the ship?" "...Yeah, I really still don't know."
"EWWWW Why is she kissing him?!" *siiiigh* (Sadly I think the answer to that is: "Because Reylo trended on twitter a lot.") 


I think what annoyed me most was the Redemption via Love Interest and then Death, especially because Finn and Poe (and even Rey) got sidelined again in favor of "shitty white dude turns out to be a hero in the end!" being the moral of the story. I get that it was supposed to be Anakin|Darth 2.0 but FFS. Does anybody but Zuko ever get a redemptive arc where they don't choose to do the decent thing only once and then die so they don't have to face the consequences of the gazillion shitty things they did before that? Like actually having to do the hard work of making amends to the people they hurt and cleaning up their own mess? Ugh. It's such a cheap redemptive method, and it worked with Darth Vadar because he was tragic. Bratty Supreme Leader: not so much.


I've actually watched some great new things recently too- The Old Guard and Mystic Pop Up Bar. I'm just grumbling here so it doesn't put negative stuff in tumblr tags and start Drama. Man, I remember sitting in the theater being utterly appalled I paid full price, took a day off and had to organize childcare for that and re-watching didn't make me feel any different. 

Comments

[ironymaiden]

No desire to rewatch it, sorry you had to. What kills me is that I genuinely like the new cast and characters. *shakes head* JJ Abrams pulled this same shit with Star Trek, no faith in the quality of the setup, just falls back to nostalgia and failed attempts at fanservice.

[nrgburst]

My husband was just horrified that they ended the series this way; that it gets the Star Wars name. I do wonder if it wouldn't have gone quite so off the rails if they'd had him do TLJ though. It seems like he spent half the movie trying to undo what TLJ put forward instead of moving forward a consistent vision that was in place with TFA.

[dhampyresa]

I still don't get why Kylo turned back to the light. Or why he went dark in the first place.

Possibly due to the above I have absolutely ZERO FUCKS to give about Kylo fucking Ren and I am forever mad at how much film time is dedicated to his nonsense.

[nrgburst]

Yeah, that is me in a nutshell too. He was traumatized by Uncle Luke hovering over his bed with a lightsaber so he went on a Killing Spree instead of calling his mom and getting out of there. SO RELATABLE

I just kept going THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE REY/FINN/POE'S MOVIE YOU BRATTY POS Why the HELL is it about the Poor Misunderstood white guy in the end?! I'm sure incels everywhere celebrated. RME

[dhampyresa]

Also can I just say how mad I am that they cut Rose's role down to fuck all?! It really felt like they capitulated to the racist/sexist harassment Tran got.

Just wanted a movie where Rey Finn and Poe and Rose are Big Damn Heroes.

[nrgburst]

They absolutely did. So disgusting. It felt like TROS was trying its best to walk back any suggestion that POC should be central to the plot. Just stick them on some pointless side mission and give them Shiny Titles at the end and nobody will notice! The fact that JJ did all this press saying how excited he is about Rose's character while actually giving her two throwaway lines too...

[dhampyresa]

JJ did all this press saying how excited he is about Rose's character

Motherfucker did WHAT?!

[wheatear]

I haven't watched this movie and I'm feeling like it probably isn't worth it. I guess it didn't meet fan expectations?

[nrgburst]

The Kylo stans were happy? One of my coworkers absolutely loved it. One person on my flist raved about the movie. Everybody else I know in real life and on tumblr or here was like, WTF WAS THAT TRASH FIRE. It felt like they tried to appease all fanbases and therefore half-assed everything? Subtext isn't content. Callbacks and Nostalgia just don't make up for an increasingly nonsensical plotline relying on exposition to tell us How High The Stakes Are (Every ship has a PlanetKiller weapon now! It's like Oprah! They allll get one!) instead of doing proper buildup and foreshadowing. And the way they shoved all their POC characters to the sidelines was really disappointing. Disney obviously listened to all the sexist, racist manbaby rants. :/

[wheatear]

Well, that sounds like pretty much all of the new Star Wars films, so yeah, not too surprised.